Unless otherwise indicated herein, the approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Audio-recording digital pens, or “smartpens,” can simultaneously record audio data and capture hand-written notes, allowing a user to record conversations or other audio occurring at the same time the user writes notes. The recorded audio and captured handwriting can be stored in a manner that preserves the temporal relationship between the recorded audio data and the captured handwriting, thereby providing context and clearer meaning for the hand-written notes. For example, a note-taking “movie” can be played, which replays the notes as they were written while simultaneously replaying the recorded audio. In another example, some smartpens can link portions of the captured audio with specific words, symbols, and/or figures contained in the hand-written notes. In addition, smartpens used in conjunction with text-recognition technology facilitate the automated conversion of hand-written notes into an electronic text format. Thus, in many ways, smartpens are becoming an invaluable tool for collecting information during meetings or lectures that can be conveniently retrieved at a later time.